Jackalpac has an eclectic sound, featuring melancholic vocals over atmospheric guitars, synths and heavy grooves. This production-focused group draws influence from artists such as Kashmir, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley and The Smiths.

After a hiatus, Dan Huey has recruited a new line up in the current members. Jackalpac re-emerged and the group is currently working together on producing new music in their project studio, to be released in 2016 and beyond.

Jackalpac’s live shows are raw and powerfully energetic with a cohesive sound reflecting the driven group dynamic in the band. They’ve supported the likes of John Steel Singers, Sherlock’s Daughter, The Big Dead, Skinny Jean and been played on a variety of radio stations, including Triple J and 4zzz.

Captain Cake is a Comedy laptop musician from Brisbane in the tradition of anti-Comedian Neil Hamburger. Captain Cake’s unique brand of comedy has thrilled and repulsed audiences but due to it’s surrealist nature it always guarantees hardcore happiness to erupt after his set has concluded. Imagine Freddy Got Fingered via Tim and Eric with the pop sensibilities of TISM and you’ll get close to the unique must see entertainment extravaganza that is Captain Cake aka Brisbane’s Greatest Living Comedian and Australia’s first ever Psychedelic Comedian.

Ever since the mid-2000’s Brisbane has been promising to produce a pop band capable of taking over the world and since about 2010 we’ve watched them all fade away, break up or attempt to pathetically move onto the next trend. We’re confident in saying that finally Brisbane has the band capable and it is Papperbok and on their debut album “Girlk” they don’t waste anytime proving why they will ascend to become the new pop music elite.

Imagine Pink Floyd only with more shoegaze aesthetics and post-rock drama then mix it with all of the great British mood bands of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s then you’ll get close to what makes Papperbok special. For every pop hook there is a moody interlude swaying in and out allowing there music to move along like one big track. All of the players in the band are masters of their craft and know the perfect time to be silent but also attack. This makes their proggier moments more interesting and the pop songs a more direct punch. It’s nice to hear a band lean on their influences but not get too nostalgic about it. You can certainly hear that Papperbok are disciples of The Flaming Lips, Blur, Radiohead and The Beatles but they don’t steal or replicate, they re-invent these established dynamics to help create their own unique sonic dialogue.

Galapogos are purveyors of everything and nothing favouring the sweet release of pop skills soaked in the energy of the moment in order to birth an explosion of hushed harshness dripping with cinematic nonsense that is in debt to all of the vibrations that connect with humans on an emotional level.

Established in 2010, Galapogos have managed to become one the most prolific and best kept musical secrets in the country. In the past five years the Galapogos live shows and album releases (Established Ghosts (2011), Feel Or Suffer (2013), Strange Species (2014) and An Emptiness (2015)) have become legendary with a heavy focus on improvisation, pop skills and a lot of noise nonsense experimentation. It has the capacity to be quite an intense journey that travels the full gauntlet of emotions both known and unknown.

The uneducated have labeled Galapogos many things but the band simply refers to their intense noise meditations as Progressive, Psychedelic and Experimental – a beautifully rapturous sound designed to summon the true aliens among us. Despite their funny coloured feet people seem to like what Galapogos do and in return they love them back. Galapogos are always happy to wear the claws if you’d like that.

There was a quote from Kurt Cobain at some point during his life where he said that the next great rock revolution would be lead by a woman or something like that. Whilst we don’t want to get too political we think it’s a relevant stance because in this godforsaken local music scene known as Brisbane, the only relevant music being made and the only music that resonates is the stuff driven by Female Human Beings. Make of that what you will but you know, there is only so much “hell fuck yeah” we can fucking take and we feel like VOIID might be the antidote to all that white middle class macho rock bullshit that is swelling both above and below ground at the moment.

VOIID make smart music and we’re big fans of what VOIID is communicating. We get the feeling that in 12 months time they’ll also be everyone else’s favourite band as well but for now, keep them as your own little secret before you have to share them with the rest of the world.

Today we are proud to be bringing you a combined single and video of the week. The artist in question is a Brisbane underground legend whose pioneering sounds have helped establish him as one of the most respected artists in our country. I’m of course talking about Andrew Tuttle and we’re proud to be premiering his new single and video for a new piece titled “Brisbane, Transit Centre” which you can stream down below.

The single is a re-interpretation of a live staple of Andrew’s which was originally recorded a few years back for his first EP under his own name. The song was recorded and mixed whilst Andrew was doing a fortnight residency at EMS Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm after a short European tour in April/May, in between working on a new album, a follow up to his fantastic 2016 release “Fantasy League.” This single is the first of two standalone singles Andrewwill be releasing over summer in the lead up to the album release in mid-2017.

There is a dedication to mood and atmosphere but where other artists may favour the drone Andrew slips into the sunshine of pop music and more traditional folk stylings in order to ground his noise experimentation’s. There are lots of Jim O’Rourkeism’s all over this new single and that totally rules because I’m a devout believer in the healing power of Jim O’Rourke. I can hear the nods to all the pioneers of this genre but for me it was the pop skills of this track that impressed me most. I automatically had millions of different vocal melody ideas leap out of my mind as I sunk deep into this strictly instrumental track. The song is a beautiful thing to witness and is a nice slice of cinematic bliss that will leave you wanting more.

The film clip for this song also does a wonderful job of selling the magic of this song – have a peek below:

For those that don’t know, here is a quick history lesson (courtesy of Andrew’s BIO) – Andrew Tuttle, based in Brisbane, Australia; creates sounds that explore the relationship between instrumentation, structure and genre within electronics and acoustics. Tuttle, usually solo, although occasionally in semi-regular and ad-hoc collaboration, creates a synthesis of electronic/acoustic instrumentation and genre, and improvisation/composition performed on computer, banjo, synthesiser, acoustic guitar, etc etc.

Prior to 2013, Tuttle primarily recorded and performed under the moniker Anonymeye. After three albums, two dozen other recorded appearances and over one hundred live performances in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand; the Anonymeye moniker was retired in early 2013. When not creating music, Tuttle is an active participant in the Australian independent music community, as a creative director, tour manager, freelance writer and arts administrator. Tuttle also has a strong love for cricket.

The haunting video for Angharad Drake’s new single “Baby” just launched and we’re proud to nominate it as our film clip of the week – click play on the below link:

“Baby” tells the tale of a battered relationship and the paranoia that comes with it, yet the eerie video takes it to a new visual landscape. With a fly-on-the-wall perspective, the video shows us the climatic moment where everything goes awry. A tragedy filtered with breathtaking scenic shots, “Baby” is the picture perfect rendition of pure heartbreak.

On their debut album “Girlk” Papperbok deliver us 33 minutes of the best psych pop music of 2016 and in the process announce their arrival as a real contender to take down the whole Tame Impala empire. Ever since the mid-2000’s Brisbane has been promising to produce a pop band capable of taking over the world and since about 2010 we’ve watched them all fade away, break up or attempt to pathetically move onto the next trend. I’m confident in saying that finally Brisbane has the band capable and it is Papperbok and on their debut album “Girlk” they don’t waste anytime proving why they will ascend to become the new pop music elite.

What makes “Girlk” such a special experience is the way it is sequenced. For every pop hook there is a moody interlude swaying in and out allowing the album to move along like one big track. As isolated tracks, each song is brilliant but for the ultimate listening experience you need to sit and listen to the record front to back. The production is perfect and despite the extreme layering present on each track there is still a lot of dynamics allowing each track the space to breathe and grow without a total saturation of the frequencies. All of the players on this album are masters of their craft and know the perfect time to be silent but also attack. This makes the proggier moments more interesting and the pop songs a more direct punch. It’s nice to hear a band lean on their influences but not get too nostalgic about it. You can certainly hear that Papperbok are disciples of The Flaming Lips, Blur, Radiohead, The Beatles and Pink Floyd (and Tame Impala I’m willing to bet as well) but they don’t steal or replicate, they re-invent these established dynamics to help create their own unique sonic dialogue.

The real star of this album however is Annabelle Bingley whose vocals create such a spooky yet beautiful atmosphere. It doesn’t matter whether she is on lead vocals or providing backing vocals, she is a truly creative force and provides fresh, interesting and dynamic melodic passages that lift these songs to some out of this world places. Her voice is pure escapism and carries with it equal amounts of beauty, despair, angst, heartache, humour and celebration. Any dull rock n roll or pop song cliché displayed by the band is instantly washed away the moment her voice elegantly arrives on any of the tracks.

That is not to say that this album is cliched, far from it. In context of the modern music landscape it is a true treasure to behold. As a movement of music “Girlk” is a sublime treat of psych pop goodness that is in debt to all of the great British mood bands of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and although the band has opted for a concept record it’s hard for me not to dig deep into these lyrics and see them as metaphors for the authors own personal pain. Using a bit of fiction to help amplify the deep sigh of modern living works well for Papperbok and it allows for the emotion of each song to be more direct and in the process opening up your own imagination. It’s all very cinematic and as one piece of music it moves like “The Final Cut” era Pink Floyd only with more shoegaze aesthetics and post-rock drama which helps to edge it to sounding like a lost timeless classic.

This album may have taken Papperbok a number of years to record and release but I’m confident it won’t take long for the band to receive extreme critical acclaim for the end result. I’m confident in saying that “Girlk” is a definite contender for our end of year top eleven list and I look forward to seeing the rest of the world fall in love with the brilliant, intense and smart song writing skills that Papperbok have shown on this record.

One of the great pleasures of running this blog is when you discover a new artist who just flaws you, to the point where their music becomes the new soundtrack to every inch of your daily routine. The kind of collision that tears away all of the cynical feelings you can start to inherit after having to spend days going through your inbox and being constantly underwhelmed by how many bands / artists are all “style over substance” – that really fucking bums me out. Lucky for me there was an artist who I have encountered who pulled me out of this zone.

The artist I’m talking about is King IV and her glorious new song “No One” helped remind me of the joy of music and why I love the thrill of humans finding radical new ways to communicate about that “ache” that is buried at the centre of all good art and let me be clear, King IV is an artist in the truest sense with music being her chosen vehicle of expression and pain being her paintbrush. By using the aesthetics of established genres her vision is able to explode out of the speakers sparking a dynamic emotional reaction from you the listener. There will be a desire to dance, to be still and to slowly edge yourself to the outskirts of the party in order to engage some quiet reflection. All in all the comfort of being sad will be dulled amplified and totally erased giving you the space to explore the new taste of desire, giving new names to old feelings scheduling in the smooth rush of a cool breeze. This song shivers up and down your fucking spine, pushing the politics of broken hearted warfare to front and centre of your memory. It haunts and it creeps.

For me, this song is another example of what 21st Century psychedelic music should sound like and the production along with the vocal arrangements showcase that King IV is a human who knows the importance of coating the pop song template with weirdness in order to amplify the hooks. All good pop hooks have sprinklings of the avant-garde. This is so the hook can have a degree of hypnosis buried within it. To those who love art, we know the secret, but to those who are merely just audience members the easiest way for me to explain the role of the avant garde in a good pop hook is to say that it is that “thing” that attracts you to the song, that “thing” you just can’t explain. Artists invent new ways to communicate these avant-gardisms, musicians and big industry music machine humans manipulate the weirdness and dull it down. With her song “No One” King IV shows how creative she is by letting her music breath the language of both the avant garde and the pop birthing a very “new” and “timeless” sound.

It’s the emotion of the song that hooks me in however. The technique is world class and it’s quite clear that King IV has the goods to construct interesting pop music but the science of a song is only allowed to make sense if there is a deep emotional core sprinkling a little bit of that special stuff across the aesthetics. That’s what I connect with, the deep emotional ache of King IV’s lyrics and melodic approach. That’s where I escape into when I’ve got this song playing. I want to know more and I want to know exactly who or what is inspiring this song.

In 2016 I’ve had the thrill of discovering many different artists and King IV is just another example of how lucky I feel to get to witness the birth of an artists career. I look forward to the future of King IV’s career and to see what she’ll release next.

Don’t fucking stall – make sure you devour King IV before she becomes the worldwide hit she is destined to become.

There was a quote from Kurt Cobain at some point during his life where he said that the next great rock revolution would be lead by a woman or something like that. Whilst I don’t want to get too political I think it’s a relevant stance because in this godforsaken local music scene known as Brisbane, the only relevant music being made and the only music that resonates with me is the stuff driven by Female Human Beings. Make of that what you will but you know, there is only so much “hell fuck yeah” I can fucking take and I feel like VOIID might be the antidote to all that white middle class macho rock bullshit that is swelling both above and below ground at the moment.

The bands sole recording exists via the following SoundCloud and YouTube link and it is a 1 minute and 18 second pure kool thing lo-fi rock n roll thrill – put on the headphones and turn it up loud:

The production is supreme and perfect for this musical communication delving deep into the whole late night party drunk as fuck boredom shtick. This approach truly amps up the vocals and adds a nice contrast to the crunch of the guitar as it creeps along like a distorted washed out sigh. VOIID combine smart lyrics with simple pop melodies all the while slapping together some righteous chords that mix the hiss of shoegazing and the dust and dirt of the whole Sebadoh aesthetic. It has one foot in the past and one foot in the future and displays a desire to at least re-shape some of the established dynamics of the genres influencing them. Whilst the music is more party than arty there are hints of surrealism and dadaism weaving in and out of their overall presentation. There is a mystique to it all and that mystery begs repeated listens. This song along hints at future punk rock greatness and I can see this band taking it all the way, from the house party to the festival stage.

This is smart music and I’m a big fan of what VOIID is communicating. I get the feeling that in 12 months time they’ll also be everyone else’s favourite band as well but for now, keep them as your own little secret before you have to share them with the rest of the world.

There are moments in my life where I fucking hate rock music with a passion. It can produce some of the most uninspiring art in the world and when it’s bad it is really bad and when I hate rock n roll, I really want to destroy it. All of the leather pants wearing fuckholes, the guitar solos, the fucking rolling stones and all of their disgusting songs, all of the fucking humans who pretend to be Dandy Warhols, all those fucking 60’s / 70’s / 80’s revival throwback bands, all the fucking grunge revival bullshit and the army of humans who just love love love rock n roll and live life on the edge by adhering to the sex, drugs and rock n roll ethos. Fuck it makes me so very sick to witness and it honestly stands in the way of progress, you’re holding up evolution fuckwit, but I digress. Sometimes I just need to break free of it and to escape into something a little less generic in terms of musical communication.

This is not a new feeling for me, I’ve had it for as long as I’ve been listening to music and through the years this disgust with (sigh) “rock n roll” has lead me to some truly radical places. One artist who has been the shining light for me for the past few months has been Quintessential Doll. The freedom of her music really left me feeling inspired because I’m always on the search for new extremes and new ideas when it comes to the punk rock spirit. It seems that she has birthed a new kind of creative language for the riot grrrl scene (at least that’s how I interrupted it) and instead of being literal with her influences and sound she scatters all kinds of art reference points across her brand of pop music.

Quintessential Doll is one of the most original artists coming out of Brisbane at the moment and her sound is absolutely fascinating to me. That is how a lot of the music I invest in starts off, a fascination and an attraction to the way an artist conducts themselves and how they use their creativity to communicate to the outside world. A lot of this fascination starts because of the mystery and wonder of this particular person or persons and it just drives me to the point of wanting to know and hear more. I like to think of myself as a human that is genreless, I think art is about communication and I’m only ever attracted to those who are masters of communication and Quintessential Doll is brilliant with the way she communicates via her art.

This brings me to Quintessential Doll’s recent song “Beautiful Violence” which was released earlier this year.

Here is the film clip to the song:

Once again I’d like to use this review to get a bit controversial in terms of how and why I think Quintessential Doll is the perfect remedy and true evolution of psychedelic music. In order to do that I guess I have to outline my problem with the modern psychedelic movement happening across the musical community of late. I’ve got a big problem with all of the modern psychedelic bands popping up here there and everywhere. The reason why I find them difficult to enjoy is because they add nothing to the evolution of the genre of psychedelic music. They simply replicate what has come before them and it essentially starts to sound like a whole range of different tribute bands simply doing psych music circa 1960’s / 1970’s and whilst enjoyable it just adds nothing to our humanity. The music press certainly eat it up and shit out reviews praising the mediocrity of it all but those of us with seasoned ears and a desire to move the world into a place of equality for all, just hears a bunch of fraudulent humans adhering to a formula that can’t fail and that will help them achieve an empty kind of success.

Upon first listen of “Beautiful Violence” by Quintessential Doll I started to feel like that finally we have the first real movement of music that will help push and evolve the idea of psychedelic music into the new decade. This is a song and artist that is trying to reach some kind of true sonic revolution.

Now before the internet warrior humans pull my review apart (I’m mainly talking to the straight white males who work in guitar shops with this next sentence), let me dull down your fiery trigger finger by outlining to you that in order to evolve any genre aesthetic you need to do a bit more than purely replicate it. Proving that you can do intricate Beatles harmonies and adding some weird orchestral twists and turns and other psychedelic flourishes does not show that you are evolving the idea of psychedelic music, you’re simply paying tribute and pat yourself on the back sunshine you’ll make a lot of money in the process being a fucking fraud. All the bros will love your band but your basically just a covers act.

That is why I love “Beautiful Violence” by Quintessential Doll so much, because her music has this quality where it certainly exists within certain pop music structures and hip hop genre dynamics but it still stands alone as a unique musical communication. After listening to “Beautiful Violence” you can tell just how important it is for Quintessential Doll to present her music like art as opposed to just an exercise in commerce. It is her fearlessness that will allow her to not only be successful but also to do it with a unique creative dialogue.

I’m pretty confident not a lot of humans will buy into my assessment of Quintessential Doll being a leader of the evolution of Psychedelic Music but you see that’s just the problem with the world that Quintessential Doll is also attempting to rebel against, most humans automatically assume that the kind of evolution I was referring to was and will still come from a group of weak bodied white male humans playing guitars and potentially have a horn section or theremin or sitar for good measure. Sometimes this world has the capacity to make me feel fucking sick with the way it breathes in and breathes out.

This review of “Beautiful Violence” by Quintessential Doll is starting to potentially sound like some kind of feminist rant and for that I make no apologies because I am a fucking feminist you stupid jerks. Sorry, I forgot that music is subjective. My mistake, I’ll keep my pleas for equality and the way forward to making the world a better place to myself. You’re free to go back to sleep and live under the 1960’s / 1970’s / 1990’s rock that you all love so much, you know the one where revolution and evolution comes in the form of white middle class males.

Anyway, fuck it, I don’t really care too much what you all think of my crazy theories, yeah, yeah, musical taste / resonance and subjectivity and all that, I get it fuckwit, but trust me when I say that “Beautiful Violence” by Quintessential Doll is the way forward and considering we still have humans pretending that it’s 1960, 1970 and 1990 it’s fucking refreshing to have an artist pushing sound into some truly evolutionary places. I am just glad that finally somebody is trying to fucking be a bit creative and artistic with their music and that someone from Brisbane isn’t using bad Dandy Warhols or Brian Jonestown Massacre riffs to communicate how “out there” and “weird” they are – fuck, you don’t know how refreshing that is.

The new single from Quintessential Doll is called “Beautiful Violence” and it is a modern punk rock / psych rock / pop music classic and trust me when I say that she will be the Tom Waits of our generation.

post-dusk is Ruby Smith, Brisbane producer and multi-instrumentalist who earlier this year shared debut single ‘PDFC’ which enjoyed attention across national and community radio, local and international publications alike.

Smith now shares a video for the hazy, dreamy track which she wrote, performed, produced and mixed herself while halfway through an honours thesis in psychology.

Created in tandem with director Pernell Marsden and director of photography Samudranil Chatterjee, post-dusk has created a mysterious, awe-inspiring realm bathed in gold glitter and candle light.

‘PDFC’ is just the first taste of post-dusk’s debut EP which we will see released before the year is out.

I reviewed ‘PDFC’ earlier this year and this is what I had to say:

“The moment the chords open up on post-dusk’s new single “PDFC” you relax into the groove of this amazing little heartbreaker. It swoons and aches like a late afternoon connecting directly to that part of your eternal sigh for a better place. This song is pure perfection and beautifully ethereal, I just fall deep inside of it every time I hear it and it becomes a glorious explosion of escapism that is heightened ever so magically when the vocal melodies weave in and out like a cool breeze. It’s like being caught in a divine shiver and it just takes over your body and you get fucking elevated to some truly righteous places.

I love when pop music is moody and atmospheric as opposed to being sticky and obvious. That’s exactly what “PDFC” is, a moody masterpiece that connects due to its darkness as opposed to its sunshine. It takes an artist to be able to be this direct and deep. What “PDFC” illustrates is the importance of a solid and consistent groove in order to build the atmosphere and mood of a song. The simple drone gives “PDFC” the direction it needs to unfold with the array of keys and synths flowing over this track with a Twin Peaks spookiness allowing for the guitar lines to erupt enough Cocteau Twins via Sonic Youth orchestral tone to provide the ethereal frame. This is a pure dream pop masterpiece and the kind of song that belongs on a mixtape for someone you are secretly crushing on.

The vocal performance and lyrical direction of “PDFC” is a simple ode to the desperate pulse of loss and I know it’s a typical thing for me to search for in most music but I think it is a musing on the power and turmoil of death. It may be masked inside the rhythm of a break-up song but I think at the core of the song lyrically is an ode to the angst of loss and the claustrophobic fear of aging in a world that prefers to move quickly as opposed to being a slow cheetah. Regardless of the muse it is clear that post-dusk is yearning for escape from the crippling sting of routine and for an extreme new experience to help her feel comfort and satisfaction with the moment as opposed to the dense haze of being stuck in the fear drenched cycle of feeling powerless and unable to stop the motion of time. The real joy is the way it connects and relates with your own personal experiences and provides the ultimate pain relief from your own life dilemmas.

“PDFC” is a timeless piece of art carefully crafted and communicated to ensure that all of your emotions are beautifully serenaded to a place of extreme relaxation and dislocation. This song is a personal and very warm invitation into the world that post-dusk creates for you and although the song is awash with personal and very relatable experiences it is the stylistic swoon of the dream pop genre that allows you to engage with her landscape but to also instill your own imagination and to arrive at a place of pure escapism. This movement of music is very open and as a result it provides you the ability to become tangled in your own ache stained sighs for the one you love / loved with the only logical resolve to hit repeat on your stereo in order to sail deeper into the beautifully delicate yet emotionally raw sound of post-dusk’s music.

This song will not just become the most trusted pain reliever but also the early morning rush of a sunrise after spending an evening of discovery in the arms of someone you hope will learn to love you back.

There is a very famous lecture that Nick Cave gave about the importance of the love song that I’d like to quote in order to conclude this review. The following quotes are important to understanding what post-dusk communicates as an artist and what makes “PDFC” so important:

“Though the love song comes in many guises – songs of exultation and praise, songs of rage and of despair, erotic songs, songs of abandonment and loss – they all address God, for it is the haunted premises of longing that the true love song inhabits. It is a howl in the void, for Love and for comfort and it lives on the lips of the child crying for his mother. It is the song of the lover in need of her loved one, the raving of the lunatic supplicant petitioning his God. It is the cry of one chained to the earth, to the ordinary and to the mundane, craving flight; a flight into inspiration and imagination and divinity. The love song is the sound of our endeavours to become God-like, to rise up and above the earthbound and the mediocre”

“We each have a need to create and sorrow is a creative act. The love song is a sad song; it is the sound of sorrow itself. We all experience within us what the Portuguese call Suadade, which translates as an inexplicable sense of longing, an unnamed and enigmatic yearning of the soul and it is this feeling that lives in the realms of imagination and inspiration and is the breeding ground for the sad song, for the Love song is the light of God, deep down, blasting through our wounds.”

“The love song must be born into the realm of the irrational, absurd, the distracted, the melancholic, the obsessive, the insane for the love song is the noise of love itself and love is, of course, a form of madness. Whether it be the love of God, or romantic, erotic love – these are manifestations of our need to be torn away from the rational, to take leave of our senses, so to speak. Love songs come in many guises and are seemingly written for many reasons – as declarations or to wound – I have written songs for all of these reasons – but ultimately the love songs exist to fill, with language, the silence between ourselves and God, to decrease the distance between the temporal and the divine.”

This accurately describes what post-dusk has done with her music and with “PDFC” she takes a deeper plunge into the abyss of her hurt shaped experiences in order to clean her wounds and create an incredibly divine movement of music. The safety of pop music is not on the agenda here and whilst this song has hooks it is the overall atmosphere of loss and despair that lets it hang inside your heart and soul. You carry this music with you and it buries itself deep inside of you long after you’ve listened to it. A song like “PDFC” will haunt you and wrap itself around you like a warm blanket. Like all great pieces of art it is not an instant or easy communication to digest but this is not music designed purely for the beat of major label consumerism. This is music created by someone who has loved and who has been damaged by the madness of it but who also uses heavy optimism to communicate just how much joy she gets from the rush of rejection and connection.

On “PDFC” post-dusk proves that depth, intensity and atmosphere are more important to the successful communication of pop music than the emptiness of one hit wonder world domination. I feel privileged to be able to review this song because it provided me with so much personal comfort and I’ve only lived with it for seven days. I look forward to what long term listening will do and how “PDFC” will soundtrack the many more adventures I plan to take into the landscape of broken hearted disco dancing and new romancing. This is a flawless song from a true artist who has successfully entered the realm of being one of the few modern contributors to the timeless dialogue of beauty, honesty and truth.”

Angharad Drake is a bright light in an often predictable and redundant landscape of singer songwriters. Her music is dark and moody and is clearly influenced by the many different faces of music. Now Brisbane based, Drake grew up on Australia’s famed Sunshine Coast, where she began writing music during her early years of high school, and scoring gigs at small local venues. She later went on to study a Music degree at Brisbane’s QUT. Influenced by the stylings of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Laura Marling and Bon Iver, she began to develop her own individual style during her University years and recorded a self titled debut EP in 2010. Since then she has completed two more self-­produced EP’s (2013’s ‘Lay Down’, and 2014’s ‘Swing’), all in preparation for her debut full ­length album, ‘Sword’ which was released in 2015.

The genius of Drake’s music comes down to the mood and how she approaches the melodic structure of her songs. Drake saturates each song with darkness and a spooky whisper and it becomes hard not to be pulled into her psyche. It is real journey-person material and you can hear that Drake has lived every inch of pain contained within her lyrics. There are also pinches of resolve and hope swirling in and out of the music but it is more attached to an acceptance of ones weirdness as opposed to anything found in positive thinking handbooks. As is the case with all good pop music, the intensity is front and centre and Drake doesn’t waste time grabbing your soul and taking you on a journey through the dark and light regions of our existence and the other dimensions she is channeling. Drake makes both very intellectual but also very spiritual music and when you mix the science with the soul you get a beating heart that is well balanced and rooted in purity.

Today we are very proud to be premiering Angharad’s new single “Baby” which is from her forthcoming second album which is due out in early to mid 2017.

Once again we see Angharad digging deep and delivering a beautiful slice of melancholy sweetness that feels autobiographical in terms of the story she’s telling. The melodic changes that swing in and out of the verses and choruses of this song are so heavy emotionally and you get dragged into the drama of it all. This is perfect pop music that is communicated with such beauty and grace. Production wise we see a few stylistic changes helping to provide the song with some interesting dynamics. These new additions sonically don’t spook Angharad’s delicate and almost whispered playing style or take away from the poetically somber tone of her music. This is music for those of us who need the rush of a broken heart in order to give purpose to our creative muse.

All in all Angharad Drake proves once again what an important up and coming artist she is. Her music is the secret weapon against this fast paced need for technology to swoop in and strangle the pure musical experience. Her voice will haunt you and her songs plant themselves deep into your existence. She will help you understand that the best art comes from those who communicate honestly and with a sense of bravery. With “Baby” we glimpse just how powerful and emotionally violent a hushed heartbroken whisper can be. It’s truly fucking “stop what you’re doing” stuff and utterly flawless.

The moment the chords open up on post-dusk’s new single “PDFC” you relax into the groove of this amazing little heartbreaker. It swoons and aches like a late afternoon connecting directly to that part of your eternal sigh for a better place. This song is pure perfection and beautifully ethereal, I just fall deep inside of it every time I hear it and it becomes a glorious explosion of escapism that is heightened ever so magically when the vocal melodies weave in and out like a cool breeze. It’s like being caught in a divine shiver and it just takes over your body and you get fucking elevated to some truly righteous places.

I love when pop music is moody and atmospheric as opposed to being sticky and obvious. That’s exactly what “PDFC” is, a moody masterpiece that connects due to its darkness as opposed to its sunshine. It takes an artist to be able to be this direct and deep. What “PDFC” illustrates is the importance of a solid and consistent groove in order to build the atmosphere and mood of a song. The simple drone gives “PDFC” the direction it needs to unfold with the array of keys and synths flowing over this track with a Twin Peaks spookiness allowing for the guitar lines to erupt enough Cocteau Twins via Sonic Youth orchestral tone to provide the ethereal frame. This is a pure dream pop masterpiece and the kind of song that belongs on a mixtape for someone you are secretly crushing on.

The vocal performance and lyrical direction of “PDFC”is a simple ode to the desperate pulse of loss and I know it’s a typical thing for me to search for in most music but I think it is a musing on the power and turmoil of death. It may be masked inside the rhythm of a break-up song but I think at the core of the song lyrically is an ode to the angst of loss and the claustrophobic fear of aging in a world that prefers to move quickly as opposed to being a slow cheetah. Regardless of the muse it is clear that post-dusk is yearning for escape from the crippling sting of routine and for an extreme new experience to help her feel comfort and satisfaction with the moment as opposed to the dense haze of being stuck in the fear drenched cycle of feeling powerless and unable to stop the motion of time. The real joy is the way it connects and relates with your own personal experiences and provides the ultimate pain relief from your own life dilemmas.

“PDFC” is a timeless piece of art carefully crafted and communicated to ensure that all of your emotions are beautifully serenaded to a place of extreme relaxation and dislocation. This song is a personal and very warm invitation into the world that post-dusk creates for you and although the song is awash with personal and very relatable experiences it is the stylistic swoon of the dream pop genre that allows you to engage with her landscape but to also instil your own imagination and to arrive at a place of pure escapism. This movement of music is very open and as a result it provides you the ability to become tangled in your own ache stained sighs for the one you love / loved with the only logical resolve to hit repeat on your stereo in order to sail deeper into the beautifully delicate yet emotionally raw sound of post-dusk’s music.

This song will not just become the most trusted pain reliever but also the early morning rush of a sunrise after spending an evening of discovery in the arms of someone you hope will learn to love you back.

There is a very famous lecture that Nick Cave gave about the importance of the love song that I’d like to quote in order to conclude this review. The following quotes are important to understanding what post-dusk communicates as an artist and what makes “PDFC” so important:

“Though the love song comes in many guises – songs of exultation and praise, songs of rage and of despair, erotic songs, songs of abandonment and loss – they all address God, for it is the haunted premises of longing that the true love song inhabits. It is a howl in the void, for Love and for comfort and it lives on the lips of the child crying for his mother. It is the song of the lover in need of her loved one, the raving of the lunatic supplicant petitioning his God. It is the cry of one chained to the earth, to the ordinary and to the mundane, craving flight; a flight into inspiration and imagination and divinity. The love song is the sound of our endeavours to become God-like, to rise up and above the earthbound and the mediocre”

“We each have a need to create and sorrow is a creative act. The love song is a sad song; it is the sound of sorrow itself. We all experience within us what the Portuguese call Suadade, which translates as an inexplicable sense of longing, an unnamed and enigmatic yearning of the soul and it is this feeling that lives in the realms of imagination and inspiration and is the breeding ground for the sad song, for the Love song is the light of God, deep down, blasting through our wounds.”

“The love song must be born into the realm of the irrational, absurd, the distracted, the melancholic, the obsessive, the insane for the love song is the noise of love itself and love is, of course, a form of madness. Whether it be the love of God, or romantic, erotic love – these are manifestations of our need to be torn away from the rational, to take leave of our senses, so to speak. Love songs come in many guises and are seemingly written for many reasons – as declarations or to wound – I have written songs for all of these reasons – but ultimately the love songs exist to fill, with language, the silence between ourselves and God, to decrease the distance between the temporal and the divine.”

This accurately describes what post-dusk has done with her music and with “PDFC” she takes a deeper plunge into the abyss of her hurt shaped experiences in order to clean her wounds and create an incredibly divine movement of music. The safety of pop music is not on the agenda here and whilst this song has hooks it is the overall atmosphere of loss and despair that lets it hang inside your heart and soul. You carry this music with you and it buries itself deep inside of you long after you’ve listened to it. A song like “PDFC” will haunt you and wrap itself around you like a warm blanket. Like all great pieces of art it is not an instant or easy communication to digest but this is not music designed purely for the beat of major label consumerism. This is music created by someone who has loved and who has been damaged by the madness of it but who also uses heavy optimism to communicate just how much joy she gets from the rush of rejection and connection.

On “PDFC” post-dusk proves that depth, intensity and atmosphere are more important to the successful communication of pop music than the emptiness of one hit wonder world domination. I feel privileged to be able to review this song because it provided me with so much personal comfort and I’ve only lived with it for seven days. I look forward to what long term listening will do and how “PDFC” will soundtrack the many more adventures I plan to take into the landscape of broken hearted disco dancing and new romancing. This is a flawless song from a true artist who has successfully entered the realm of being one of the few modern contributors to the timeless dialogue of beauty, honesty and truth.

On the 5th April 2016 Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready turned 50 – a milestone that has inspired me to create another daily mixtape in order to pay tribute to the great human that he is. Throughout his 25 plus year career as a musician McCready has lent his other worldly guitar skills to not just Pearl Jam but other outside projects like the one of a kind gem that was Mad Season.

You instantly recognise the McCready sound when he lends his lead guitar skills to any song. When it comes to lead players he is one of my favourites because beyond being able to fucking wail he can use his skills to take a song to another level emotionally. He is also an accomplished songwriter in his own right and has been responsible for some of Pearl Jams more interesting tracks. He always brings a moody and deep feel which when filtered through the Pearl Jam machine provides some godlike moments.

With this playlist we wanted to collect 20 of those moments when McCready has totally transformed a song. A lot of these tracks are ones he had a hand in writing but a few of them simply showcase his amazing guitar skills. So here we present to you, 20 of our favourite Mike McCready moments:

On Tuesday the 5th April 2016 a lot of human beings around the world remembered the life and music of Kurt Cobain. It’s hard to believe that he has been dead for 22 years. I was just 11 years old when he passed away and it wouldn’t be until 1995 that I would become a fan of his music and greatest legacy, Nirvana.

Anyone who has read my personal stories across any of the blogs that I’ve written will know that at age eleven I discovered Pearl Jam. This discovery helped open up the door to a scene and community of musicians and artists who came from Seattle. The media and uneducated called it “grunge” but the reality of it all was that it was just rock n roll that paid tribute to all that was wonderful about punk rock, art rock, pop music and heavy metal. The music from Seattle wasn’t just “rock n roll” though, it had a special energy at the centre of it and it’s hard to deny the power bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Mudhoney had. On the surface these bands were some of the most popular bands from that scene but in all honesty there were so many other bands from Seattle that were equally as unique and powerful.

I can never really put my finger on it but I believe that there was a special kind of magic happening in the universe at the time that allowed these bands from Seattle to break through. The way this music resonated so deeply with youth culture was without a doubt a phenomenon. We had of course seen it before but for those of us that lived through it and were there as it was happening, it was an excitement and level of artistry that I’m confident in saying has not been repeated. To those who weren’t there and who only have hindsight and history and the fucking misinformation of the internet to provide you with the (sigh) “grunge” experience, I hope that I can do my best to give some context to how special and pure this period of time was and how Nirvana and Kurt Cobain are the reason why you have the freedom to have your “alternative” lifestyles so accepted in today’s society.

I feel a tad bit out of my depth writing this because although I’m quite a big fan of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, it is in fact my brother Ben who was the superfan growing up and that remains to this day. All of his artistic pursuits were inspired by Kurt Cobain and I’m yet to meet a human being more in-tuned or understanding of the Kurt Cobain legacy than Ben.

Nirvana first came into my life via my Brother Ben who in 1995 brought a cassette tape copy of “In Utero” by Nirvana. This was my first experience with Nirvana and it had a lasting effect on my soul and personality. Ben was 14 years old and I was 11 going on 12. The music contained on “In Utero” was some of the harshest and soul bearing I had ever heard. It had a different energy to Pearl Jam and via the different physical media I was reading at the time the word “Punk Rock” got thrown around a lot. So in all reality “In Utero” was my first encounter with what “Punk Rock” was.

My brother brought Pearl Jam’s classic third album “Vitalogy” one afternoon not long after and after some intense negotiations I agreed to swap my cassette tape copy of “VS” for his cassette tape copy of “In Utero” – so we switched. This all happened in early to late March of 1995 and this was the point in time that Nirvana took over my whole world.

I can safely say that Nirvana were my favourite band at that point in time and “In Utero” was one of the coolest movements of music that I had ever heard. There was a cathartic nature to it all and being in Grade Seven at the time and being on the verge of entering the Teenage Wasteland it was the album and band that I needed in order to help set me free.

To this day “In Utero” remains my favourite, not because I’m some kind of insecure asshole who prefers to pick a favourite album from Nirvana that isn’t “Nevermind” but because it was the first album I heard from the band. It was the first time the band resonated with me and I feel it is their best record. A lot of my favourite Nirvana songs come from this album including “Serve The Servants,” “Scentless Apprentice,” “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle,” “Very Ape,” “Milk It,” “Pennyroyal Tea,” “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter,” and “All Apologies” – these were the songs that my eleven going on twelve year old self was getting off on back in 1995, this music protected me and understood me and Kurt Cobain sparked my fascination with being creative. I was obsessed with the lyrics he wrote and I would look up all the different words he used in my dictionary (when I should have been doing my school work) to try and understand what they all meant and how they related to the emotions he was delivering in his music.

The next album I brought on Cassette Tape was “Bleach” and this was in around June of 1995 whilst I was visiting my Nana and Pop in Brisbane (I lived in Mackay at the time). The reason I brought “Bleach” was because it had the song “About a Girl” on it which I had heard via their unplugged concert. I loved that song quite a bit and the album “Bleach” itself was quite an interesting record. Again, not because I’m some jerk-off purist but simply due to my journey I list “Bleach” as my second favourite Nirvana album. I feel that in 1995 and now in 2016 nothing sounds as middle finger as “Negative Creep” and the opening trilogy of “Blew,” “Floyd the Barber” and “About a Girl” is punk rock heaven. Then there is of course the amazing “School” and “Love Buzz” and not to mention the amazing second side of the album. I loved this album in 1995 and I still love it in 2016, it is one of the best debut albums ever and represents everything that a debut album should be.

This brings to me the moment that “Nevermind” came into my life. It was once again in 1995 and although I didn’t buy a copy of this album proper I did secure a cassette tape copy of it through a friend. To set the scene, in 1995 the grade seven humans traveled to Canberra for a week. It was a grade seven tradition and with the spending money I was given I was committed to buying a copy of “Nevermind” – unfortunately when we did make it to a shopping centre the music store was closed. A friend of mine at the time (my best friend) Stephen Angelucci informed me that he had a copy of it on Cassette tape (he had older brothers) and that if I wanted it he’d give it to me when we got back to Mackay. True to his word, Stephen gave me an original cassette tape copy of “Nevermind” with the only set back being that it didn’t have the inlay card / cover. This was a minor setback for me personally, I was just glad that I owned it.

The sound of “Nevermind” was overwhelming and the opening trilogy of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “In Bloom” and “Come As You Are” is flawless. Beyond being great punk rock it was great pop music and I would have to nominate “Lithium” as the first real “HOLY SHIT!!!!!” moment of the album for me. That song was so amazing; the way Kurt showcased such emotion simply by screaming the word “Yeah” over and over again is brilliant. The second side of the album has three of my favourite Nirvana songs ever “Drain You,” “Lounge Act” and “Something in the Way” all which showcase the genius of Nirvana, the collision of punk and pop skills.

I soon fixed the issue of not having the inlay card as well; we went to the local record store and asked if we could photocopy the inlay card via colour copying. The lady who owned the store let us do this because she knew us, so finally I had the inlay card for the album. In terms of Nirvana’s discography “Nevermind” is my fourth favourite album from the band.

By the end of 1995 I would own the remaining discography buying both “Insecticide” and “MTV Unplugged” on Cassette Tape with Birthday Money I received when I turned twelve in December 1995. This was also the same birthday where I got a brand new Walkman with not just bass boost but also an equalizer so I could adjust the sound. That was one of my favourite Birthday’s ever and I reckon that you Ipod generation fucks missed out on the joy of Walkman’s and cassette tapes, but I’ll save that indulgent rant for another blog.

My twelfth birthday also saw me get another piece of the Nirvana family tree, the debut self-titled album by Foo Fighters on cassette tape. It was given to me by my friend Lincoln Grady after I had raved to him and my Brother about how exciting it was that Dave Grohl was making music again.

Just a sidenote here, before he became the household name that he is now Dave Grohl was considered a joke by the music press and fellow Nirvana fans I knew at the time for starting his own band. He has earnt every inch of his success by fielding a very ugly backlash when he started Foo Fighters. That debut album from Foo Fighters is still one of the greatest albums ever and I’d certainly list it in my top eleven albums of all time. Back to the point, finally owning “Insecticide” gave me access to so many more awesome songs by Nirvana.

This is my third favourite album by the band and it contains my favourite Nirvana song of all time which is “Dive” and of course this is the album that has everyone’s teenage anthem “Aneurysm” but for me it is songs like “Stain,” “Hairspray Queen,” “Aero Zeppelin” and “Big Long Now” that really make this an amazing album.

In 1996 my brother overtook me as the biggest Nirvana fan ever and after he secured a job he upgraded to CD’s and a CD player and brought all of the Nirvana CD’s and Pearl Jam stuff. This meant that I got all of the Pearl Jam cassette tapes back and I resumed my love affair with the band. I continued to love Nirvana but it was bands like Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins and Metallica that started to take over my life in 1996. I remained a fan of Nirvana and to this day I still love and adore their music.

So when all is said and done, what does Nirvana and Kurt Cobain mean to me?

The music of Nirvana saved me when I was eleven going on twelve in 1995 and inspired my interest in punk rock, heavy metal, art, poetry and of course the currency of saying “fuck you” and going your own way. I didn’t feel the need to victimise myself as a result of Kurt’s influence because although I related to his lyrics and music I understood that his pain was far removed from mine. I had my own demons and my own pain and his music helped me identify that from a young age and how to use music as an outlet of escape and honest expression.

Nirvana taught me that music could be more than just entertainment and that it is indeed about honest and raw emotional expression. When I first dabbled on guitar, it was the music of Nirvana that I learnt and took great joy in playing. I’ve formed friendships with human beings over the love of Nirvana and most of all I’ve witnessed the way Nirvana inspired my brother Ben to become one of the most talented and gifted artists I know.

Kurt Cobain’s suicide may have been the death of the innocence that everyone talks about but with adult hindsight I view it as a selfish act committed by a confused and conflicted human being. To feel the way he did and to have the level of empathy that Kurt did put him in an unfortunate position. Kurt Cobain may have killed himself but for me it was the feeling of being misunderstood by his audience that really killed him and that his message of finding your own voice and own vehicle was being lost on the youth culture who looked to him as a saviour.

Kurt Cobain was not a god he was a human being and like all human beings he has the same emotions that fill all of us. He was given the burden of power and responsibility with the success of his band and whether he did or didn’t want to be the “spokesman of the generation” he is who we got. I’m always glad it was Kurt Cobain but I think the tragedy of it all is that he felt misunderstood and so lonely even in his success. To see people rip him off instead of finding their own individuality would have no doubt been frustrating. I find myself as an adult human getting mad that he took the easy way out and he didn’t find the personal and spiritual strength to live, to survive.

I never blame the pressure of success, his wife or the drugs for his death – I always blame the fans, mainstream culture and the media who misunderstood his message and to this day cash in on his creative legacy and genius. We all killed Kurt Cobain and that is a fact that I believe to this day.

After 19 years it still leaves me empty that we won’t get to hear how he would have evolved musically. I often believe he would have either gone more in the R.E.M. pop direction or possibly he may have gone more noise driven like Sonic Youth. Either way it would have been beautiful and relevant.

Kurt Cobain changed so much in our cultural landscape and for those of you who were born in the 90’s; you are all reaping the benefits of his legacy. The music industry changed and now has business / marketing templates for “alternative” bands. That was because of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. The mainstream culture accepted and now promotes “alternative” culture. That was because of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. A lot of people post 1991 started bands and brought guitars and some of them became famous and others became bedroom players only. That was because of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. Triple J became a household name for being the “youth culture” radio network in Australia on a mainstream level. That was because of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.

So as you can see, Kurt Cobain has brought a lot of positive light to this world and after 22 years we are still not any closer to feeling satisfied or happy that it should of ended the way it did. The music landscape went to some ugly places after Nirvana ended and the grunge revivals and constant search for “the next Nirvana” continues to this day. We’ll never find it because in 1991 no one was looking for it. That is when revolution happens in art, when no one is looking for it and it always come from a band that no one initially cared about and is made by human beings who are outside of your popular agenda.

With the oversaturation of Alternative and Indie culture in music it is getting harder and harder for people to recognise that just because they feel “alienated” and play “angsty” music does not give them claim to be some sort of brand new “spokesperson” for youth culture. Trust fund babies who dress the part are not welcome at the revolution. You can put pearls on a swine, but it’s still a pig. The next Nirvana is the band you all laugh at and mock because they aren’t cool enough for your modern youth agenda. Trust me, the next Nirvana will be a band you already bully and mistreat.

The energy and feeling of youth culture in 1991 was that they felt misunderstood. Nirvana was the band they all connected with but Nirvana was just the end result of an underground punk scene that had been functioning for years. On paper you can indeed just call them a combination of Black Flag and R.E.M. but unlike those two bands Nirvana made music that resonated on a deeper emotional level. It was indeed a revolution and I believe that only the Beatles and Nirvana are relevant players in the nomination for who revolutionised Rock N Roll and pop culture.

We miss you Kurt Cobain and we say thank you for the music

May Nirvana’s legacy inspire youth culture for another million years

What better way to kick off our Daily Mixtape series than with a collection of Heavy and Weird’s favourite Nirvana songs which you can listen to via spotify:

Heavy and Weird are proud to announce the ninth of nine artists performing at “Loving The Alien: A Tribute to David Bowie”

Cassette Cathedral

Cassette Cathedral are as sophisticated guitar rock band who pay tribute to the history of slacker indie noise rock with massive slabs of psychedelic dream pop swirls, think The Church meets The Brian Jonestown Massacre with a massive nod to Deerhunter. They are a journey band where you hang on every note and go on the ride. There are some new cosmic touches that are added to the usual guitar noise slackerisms that make the band one of the true local purveyors of future punk music.

Their music surrounds you, it engulfs your environment until you are in a cocoon of nightmarish divinity and stark late night highway swirls. There is a loneliness and spooky feel to it all and somewhere buried deep inside the stories being spun there is a real sense that loss has somehow themed these songs. Audiences are always deeply moved at the way the bands songs flirt with a sense of beauty but then before they get too refined and layered they rip themselves apart and become excursions into pure self-destruction and chaotic bliss.

Cassette Cathedral unfolds deep noise meditations that appeal to everything that aches within you. More aftermath than initial detonation, their music rarely gives you a chance to remain grounded and you’ll unlock new levels of emotion and also wonder what the fuck just happened. Like a foreign injury, your heart and soul will never truly be the same again and when the noise settles and resolves the smile will return to your face. This becomes the moment that you understand the power of sound, more than before and you’ll mourn the fact that there isn’t enough time in your day to listen to a band like Cassette Cathedral. You’ll walk around your house searching for ways not to return to the band and try and throw yourself into something else but while you attempt to be still your mind will be humming every note inspiring you to boycott routine and return to Cassette Cathedral, like a hit and run lover.

You won’t get answers, only questions and that is what good rock n roll should do.

“Right now, it feels as if the solar system is off it’s axis, as if one of our main planetary anchors has lost it’s orbit. That said – I am certain that wherever Bowie is now – I want to be there someday.” – Micheal Stipe

For 69 years David Bowie was a gift bestowed upon planet earth to help our species understand the power and importance of pop music. There was something truly Alien about his presence that gave hope to the freaks among us that we had a spokesman. His curiosity for the weird and wonderful avant-garde artforms helped inform and influence the music he made. Bowie understood and believed in the unpopular, the insignificant and the overlooked humans of society and he gave them a voice. David Bowie was a warm hug for the alienated youth of every generation from 1960 through to 2016 and his influence and power went way beyond just being another pop singer. He invented new ways of communicating musically and he also championed the artists and bands that the music industry elite chose to ignore. There is a lot to celebrate when it comes to David Bowie but his greatest legacy is the way he has inspired the other aliens among us to pick up an instrument and to express themselves through art and music.

Despite his iconic fashion statements it was Bowie’s music that mattered most and on 14th May 2016 Heavy and Weird are proud to be curating their first live musical event – “Loving The Alien” – A Tribute to David Bowie

This event will see a diverse group of artists pay tribute to the music of David Bowie and to dive a bit deeper into his catalouge to share with you some of his most popular and unpopular songs. This is a celebration of alienation and how Bowie’s music helped save and give purpose and comfort and remedy to that feeling of being different to everyone else.

Stay Tuned for our Line-Up announcement

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Leukemia Foundation

Saturday 14th May 2016 at The Bearded Lady
138 Boundary Street West End

Heavy and Weird are proud to announce the eighth of nine artists performing at “Loving The Alien: A Tribute to David Bowie”

Pat Hehir

Pat Hehir is the lead singer for Brisbane rock band Hawkmoon. A lover of pop music and the art of rock n roll, Hehir is a rare commodity among the stylish Brisbane music landscape because he deals and trades in sincerity as opposed to the fashion of the day. The sound and mood of his music harks back to the mid to late 90’s and early 00’s where bands like Powderfinger, Custard and You Am I dominated that youth demographic of 18 to 24 and served as the soundtrack to a summer spent doing wonderfully pointless things in New Farm Park whilst fighting a “three bottles of wine” hangover and trying ever so hard to impress girls named Emily and Jill and Beth who have become more interested in ecstasy culture as opposed to rock guitars now that they have returned from London.

It is Hehir’s sincerity as a songwriter that is the key to his authenticity and throughout his short career he has highlighted that sometimes the most experimental thing you can do as an artist is to strip back music to its most basic elements and to tell a story rooted in a deep emotional yearning. If Springsteen lived in the Sunshine State he may have sounded like Pat Hehir but comparisons aside, Hehir is just beginning to showcase what he’s capable of and when he’s in full flight it’s the kind of music that saves lives.

“Right now, it feels as if the solar system is off it’s axis, as if one of our main planetary anchors has lost it’s orbit. That said – I am certain that wherever Bowie is now – I want to be there someday.” – Micheal Stipe

For 69 years David Bowie was a gift bestowed upon planet earth to help our species understand the power and importance of pop music. There was something truly Alien about his presence that gave hope to the freaks among us that we had a spokesman. His curiosity for the weird and wonderful avant-garde artforms helped inform and influence the music he made. Bowie understood and believed in the unpopular, the insignificant and the overlooked humans of society and he gave them a voice. David Bowie was a warm hug for the alienated youth of every generation from 1960 through to 2016 and his influence and power went way beyond just being another pop singer. He invented new ways of communicating musically and he also championed the artists and bands that the music industry elite chose to ignore. There is a lot to celebrate when it comes to David Bowie but his greatest legacy is the way he has inspired the other aliens among us to pick up an instrument and to express themselves through art and music.

Despite his iconic fashion statements it was Bowie’s music that mattered most and on 14th May 2016 Heavy and Weird are proud to be curating their first live musical event – “Loving The Alien” – A Tribute to David Bowie

This event will see a diverse group of artists pay tribute to the music of David Bowie and to dive a bit deeper into his catalouge to share with you some of his most popular and unpopular songs. This is a celebration of alienation and how Bowie’s music helped save and give purpose and comfort and remedy to that feeling of being different to everyone else.

Stay Tuned for our Line-Up announcement

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Leukemia Foundation

Saturday 14th May 2016 at The Bearded Lady
138 Boundary Street West End

Heavy and Weird are proud to announce the seventh of nine artists performing at “Loving The Alien: A Tribute to David Bowie”

Pale Earth

There is a lot humans can learn from the healing power of Benjamin Thompson and the music he makes. After spending a decade making radical noise pop music with his band The Rational Academy, Thompson released his Pale Earth project in 2013 and has since released an array of EP’s, Cassette Tapes, 7 Inch’s, Collaborations and full lengths.

There is so much hurt and loss buried inside the electronic mood pieces that Pale Earth create. You can just relax into the songs, with the lights turned off and just be lulled into all kinds of landscapes. You can feel the beauty and ugliness of life all at once but you can also taste the regret dripping from each movement of music being presented. It’s the kind of music that one both creates and yearns to listen to in times of loss. Considering the music is largely instrumental it is amazing how lyrical the noise is.

Thompson’s manipulation of noise is where the story is told and it speaks louder than any words and you can hear the pain pouring out of him even as you sink inside the drone of his music. Pale Earth makes music that sends your imagination crazy with an inundation of life’s best and worst memories. Pale Earth deserve to be worshiped and Benjamin Thompson deserves his own chapter in the music industry textbook so that all of the little children can understand how to be an artist as opposed to a musician (trust us, there is a big difference).

“Right now, it feels as if the solar system is off it’s axis, as if one of our main planetary anchors has lost it’s orbit. That said – I am certain that wherever Bowie is now – I want to be there someday.” – Micheal Stipe

For 69 years David Bowie was a gift bestowed upon planet earth to help our species understand the power and importance of pop music. There was something truly Alien about his presence that gave hope to the freaks among us that we had a spokesman. His curiosity for the weird and wonderful avant-garde artforms helped inform and influence the music he made. Bowie understood and believed in the unpopular, the insignificant and the overlooked humans of society and he gave them a voice. David Bowie was a warm hug for the alienated youth of every generation from 1960 through to 2016 and his influence and power went way beyond just being another pop singer. He invented new ways of communicating musically and he also championed the artists and bands that the music industry elite chose to ignore. There is a lot to celebrate when it comes to David Bowie but his greatest legacy is the way he has inspired the other aliens among us to pick up an instrument and to express themselves through art and music.

Despite his iconic fashion statements it was Bowie’s music that mattered most and on 14th May 2016 Heavy and Weird are proud to be curating their first live musical event – “Loving The Alien” – A Tribute to David Bowie

This event will see a diverse group of artists pay tribute to the music of David Bowie and to dive a bit deeper into his catalouge to share with you some of his most popular and unpopular songs. This is a celebration of alienation and how Bowie’s music helped save and give purpose and comfort and remedy to that feeling of being different to everyone else.

Stay Tuned for our Line-Up announcement

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Leukemia Foundation

Saturday 14th May 2016 at The Bearded Lady
138 Boundary Street West End

Heavy and Weird are proud to announce the sixth of nine artists performing at “Loving The Alien: A Tribute to David Bowie”

Wild Horse Mountain

Wild Horse Mountain is the brand new project from Emma and Kassie formerly of Brisbane “Space Jam Pop” Pioneers Foxsmith. Leaning on their eclectic taste in music, Wild Horse Mountain sees the dynamics and moods of their prior band explored on deeper and darker levels. There is a renewed focus on creating deep groove orientated jams shaped by the progressive nature of modern psych rock. Expect to hear dark hypnotic pop songs full of atmosphere that will showcase a more personal and poetic side lyrically without sacrificing the kool thing drone of their previous noise meditations.

It’s music funded by heartache and a real good time, that late Friday night movement from party queen to “what does it all mean” melancholy. It’s soaked in cool, but the kind of cool that artists like Courtney Barnett exude, hard to mimic but easy to admire. Its pop music covered in all kinds of dreams and schemes designed to destroy all your emotions and to make you swoon.

This will be Wild Horse Mountain’s debut performance and as long time fans of the music made by Emma and Kassie we are humbled and very excited to be bringing you this exclusive – so come and be part of history as they pay tribute to Bowie whilst also indulging us with a few of their new tunes – heavy and weird feel incredibly fortunate to have Wild Horse Mountain be part of this line-up.

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Choose your own adventure…

“Right now, it feels as if the solar system is off it’s axis, as if one of our main planetary anchors has lost it’s orbit. That said – I am certain that wherever Bowie is now – I want to be there someday.” – Micheal Stipe

For 69 years David Bowie was a gift bestowed upon planet earth to help our species understand the power and importance of pop music. There was something truly Alien about his presence that gave hope to the freaks among us that we had a spokesman. His curiosity for the weird and wonderful avant-garde artforms helped inform and influence the music he made. Bowie understood and believed in the unpopular, the insignificant and the overlooked humans of society and he gave them a voice. David Bowie was a warm hug for the alienated youth of every generation from 1960 through to 2016 and his influence and power went way beyond just being another pop singer. He invented new ways of communicating musically and he also championed the artists and bands that the music industry elite chose to ignore. There is a lot to celebrate when it comes to David Bowie but his greatest legacy is the way he has inspired the other aliens among us to pick up an instrument and to express themselves through art and music.

Despite his iconic fashion statements it was Bowie’s music that mattered most and on 14th May 2016 Heavy and Weird are proud to be curating their first live musical event – “Loving The Alien” – A Tribute to David Bowie

This event will see a diverse group of artists pay tribute to the music of David Bowie and to dive a bit deeper into his catalouge to share with you some of his most popular and unpopular songs. This is a celebration of alienation and how Bowie’s music helped save and give purpose and comfort and remedy to that feeling of being different to everyone else.

Stay Tuned for our Line-Up announcement

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Leukemia Foundation

Saturday 14th May 2016 at The Bearded Lady
138 Boundary Street West End